When Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the new Barbican Centre in 1982, she said it must be “one of the wonders of the modern world”. Besides the festivities planned for the fortnight of the Barbican’s 25th birthday celebrations (25 February – 10 March 2007), there will be twenty five milestone events held throughout 2007 – each event meant to capture the centre’s essence and characterise a year of its existence.
Opened on 3rd March 1982, the £161m Barbican took 15 years to complete and is the largest integrated arts and conference centre in Europe. Covering seven acres and occupying a former bomb site amidst thirty five acres of residential estate known as the Barbican, the Centre became listed as Grade II in 2001. The Barbican Centre’s art venues includes a concert hall, two theatres – the Barbican Theatre and the Pit, three cinemas and two art galleries. Despite being the home of the London Symphony Orchestra and regularly hosting the world’s premier orchestras, the Barbican did go through its fair share of strife. In 2001, it was voted as one of the ugliest buildings in London; in 1996 controversy struck with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) gradual departure from its circuit; and a critic quipped that its concert hall is a work in progress.
